UPDATED: Kinder Morgan protest in Delta ends peacefully

Two activists are protesting the Kinder Morgan expansion pipeline by sitting on one of its pieces of equipment.

Just before dawn today (Thursday, May 3) Mary Lovell and Laura Yates climbed on top of Kinder Morgan’s tunnel boring machine, currently being held in Delta’s Tilbury industrial area.

The pair placed a banner over the drill that reads “Protect Water, Stop Pipelines” and are pictured in a Greenpeace video waving a flag that says: “Here’s the drill: stop KM.”

“Enough is enough,” Yates said in a Greenpeace press release. “Right now, we need leaders who are brave visionaries, who are willing to take the leap, leave dirty oil projects behind and choose a path to a better future.

“What we don’t need are leaders, like Justin Trudeau, who continue to be swayed by corporate interests rather than honouring Indigenous rights, protecting drinking water from oil spills and ensuring healthy ecosystems and a liveable climate for people all over the world.”

The two women said they planned to stay on the drill for as long as possible. They came down from the drill around 2 p.m.

Delta police were on scene throughout the protest, after being called by the business owner around 6 a.m.

Police said asked the Lovell and Yates if they wanted to come down from the drill, and they did. A Greenpeace press release said police told activists they were moving a cherry picker in to remove them from the drill.

“We’ve come down for now, but resistance to this destructive pipeline and tanker project continues to grow,” Lovell said in the press release. “We will not stop until Kinder Morgan is defeated.”